Publication of equipment status

ABSTRACT

This disclosure concerns novel tools and techniques for distributing status information, including without limitation status information about commercial equipment. In some cases, a status monitoring device can be attached to, incorporated within, or otherwise placed in communication with a piece of commercial equipment. The status monitoring device can monitor the status of the equipment and communicate that status. Some of the discloses tools and techniques employ a social networking infrastructure to convey information (such as status information about a piece of equipment).

COPYRIGHT STATEMENT

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains materialthat is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has noobjection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent documentor the patent disclosure as it appears in the Patent and TrademarkOffice patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyrightrights whatsoever.

FIELD

The present disclosure relates, in general, to communication systems,and more particularly, to novel tools and techniques for distributinginformation about the status of commercial equipment.

BACKGROUND

One issue that many businesses face is the need to obtain informationabout the status of equipment. This issue applies to many differentkinds of commercial equipment. Merely by way of example, someorganizations need to obtain status information (e.g., current location,maintenance status, etc.) about vehicles (e.g., in a commercial fleet).Other organizations might need to determine whether unattended equipmentis operating normally (or at all). In other cases, even attendedequipment might need to convey status information remotely; for example,if an operator of the equipment does not have the ability or incentiveto report information about the status of the equipment (for example, ifthe equipment is leased to the operator).

In the past, obtaining status information about equipment was alabor-intensive process that generally involved travel to the locationof the equipment and manual inspection of the equipment. As many typesof equipment gained processing power, the accumulation of statusinformation about the equipment became more automated, but thecollection of that information often remain difficult, especially forequipment located in remote locations. Some equipment manufacturersdeveloped proprietary communication hardware and/or protocols forconveying status information remotely, but in multivendor environments,these disparate strategies often prove unworkable.

More recently, especially in the field of information technology, therehave been movements toward standardizing the communication of statusinformation. One example of such a movement is the simple networkmanagement protocol (“SNMP”), which is commonly used to convey statusinformation about network equipment. Even such standards, however,generally are limited in application to information technologyequipment, and they often require significant infrastructure (such asnetwork monitors and the like) in order to convey status informationfrom a piece of equipment to the ultimate consumer of such information(which might be a user, a back office system, and/or the like).

Thus, there is a need for new tools and techniques to provide for theconveyance of status information from a wide variety of different typesof commercial equipment to a consumer of such information.

BRIEF SUMMARY

Certain embodiments provide novel tools and techniques for distributingstatus information, including without limitation status informationabout commercial equipment. In a set of embodiments, a status monitoringdevice can be attached to, incorporated within, or otherwise placed incommunication with a piece of commercial equipment. A wide variety ofdifferent types of commercial equipment can be supported in accordancewith various embodiments. The status monitoring device can include anycomponents that are necessary or beneficial to determining the status ofthe equipment and/or communicating the status. The status monitoringdevice, then, can monitor the status of the equipment and communicatethat status in accordance with the techniques described herein.

For instance, in a novel aspect, some embodiments can take advantage ofa social networking infrastructure to convey information (such as statusinformation about a piece of equipment). In some aspects, the use of asocial networking infrastructure can provide numerous advantages overconventional communication channels for equipment status information.Merely by way of example, in one aspect, a social networkinginfrastructure can be ubiquitous: Depending on the implementation, asocial networking infrastructure can be accessed by any device capableof running a thin client (or even sending a simple message, such as ane-mail message, text message, and/or the like) and/or communicatingusing Internet protocol.

The tools provided by various embodiments include, without limitation,methods, systems, and/or software products. Merely by way of example, amethod might comprise one or more procedures, any or all of which areexecuted by a computer system. Correspondingly, an embodiment mightprovide a computer system configured with instructions to perform one ormore procedures in accordance with methods provided by various otherembodiments. Similarly, a computer program might comprise a set ofinstructions that are executable by a computer system (and/or aprocessor therein) to perform such operations. In many cases, suchsoftware programs are encoded on physical, tangible and/ornon-transitory computer readable media (such as, to name but a fewexamples, optical media, magnetic media, and/or the like).

Merely by way of example, a system provided by one set of embodimentscomprises a first computer system and a second computer system. Thefirst computer system comprises a first processor and a first computerreadable storage having encoded thereon a status monitoring component toprogram the first computer system to perform one or more operations. Inan aspect, the status monitoring program might include a first set ofinstructions executable by the first processor. The first set ofinstructions might comprise instructions for determining a status of apiece of commercial equipment and/or instructions for publishing astatus update, using a social networking infrastructure. The statusupdate might indicate the status of the piece of commercial equipment;and

The second computer system might comprise a second processor and asecond computer readable storage medium. The second computer readablestorage medium might have encoded thereon a status update component toprogram the second computer system to perform one or more operations. Inan aspect, the status update program might include a second setinstructions executable by the second processor.

Merely by way of example, the second set of instructions might compriseinstructions for receiving user input identifying the piece ofcommercial equipment and/or instructions for subscribing to updates fromthe piece of commercial equipment. The second set of instructions mightfurther comprise instructions for receiving the published status updatevia the social networking infrastructure, based on a subscription to thepiece of commercial equipment. The second set of instructions might alsofeature instructions for taking an action in response to receiving thepublished status update.

A method in accordance with a set of embodiments might comprisedetermining, with a computer system, a status of a piece of commercialequipment. The method might further include accessing, with the computersystem, a social networking infrastructure. In some embodiments, themethod further comprises publishing a status update, with the computersystem, using the social networking infrastructure. In an aspect, thestatus update can indicate the status of the piece of commercialequipment.

A method in accordance with another set of embodiments might comprise acomputer subscribing, with a social networking architecture, to updatesfrom a piece of commercial equipment. The method might further comprisereceiving a published status update via the social networkinginfrastructure, based on a subscription to the piece of commercialequipment, and/or taking an action in response to receiving thepublished status update.

An apparatus in accordance with yet another set of embodiments mightcomprise a computer readable medium having encoded thereon a set ofinstructions executable by one or more computers to perform one or moreoperations. In one aspect, the set of instructions might compriseinstructions to implement one or more methods provided by variousembodiments.

A computer system for providing status updates (e.g., status updatesabout a piece of commercial equipment) might comprise a processor and acomputer readable medium having encoded thereon a status monitoringcomponent to program the computer system to perform one or moreoperations. In an aspect, the status monitoring component might comprisea set of instructions executable by the processor.

The set of instructions might include, for example, instructions fordetermining a status of the piece of commercial equipment. The set ofinstructions might further comprise instructions for accessing a socialnetworking infrastructure, and/or instructions for publishing a statusupdate using the social networking infrastructure. In an aspect, thestatus update might indicate the status of the piece of commercialequipment.

A computer system for receiving status updates (e.g., status updatesfrom or about a piece of commercial equipment) might also comprises aprocessor and a computer readable medium. The computer readable mediummight have encoded thereon a status update component to program thecomputer system to perform one or more operations. The status updatecomponent might comprise a set of instructions executable by theprocessor.

Merely by way of example, the set of instructions might compriseinstructions for subscribing, with a social networking architecture, toupdates from the piece of commercial equipment. The set of instructionsmight further comprise instructions for receiving a published statusupdate via the social networking infrastructure, based on a subscriptionto the piece of commercial equipment. In some embodiments, the set ofinstructions further comprises instructions for taking an action inresponse to receiving the published status update.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A further understanding of the nature and advantages of particularembodiments may be realized by reference to the remaining portions ofthe specification and the drawings, in which like reference numerals areused to refer to similar components. In some instances, a sub-label isassociated with a reference numeral to denote one of multiple similarcomponents. When reference is made to a reference numeral withoutspecification to an existing sub-label, it is intended to refer to allsuch multiple similar components.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a system for providing statusupdates, in accordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a device for publishing statusupdates, in accordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 3 is a process flow diagram illustrating a method of publishingstatus updates, in accordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 4 is a process flow diagram illustrating a method of receivingpublished status updates, in accordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 5 is an exemplary display screen on which status updates can bedisplayed, in accordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 6 is a generalized schematic diagram illustrating a computersystem, in accordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating a networked system of computers,which can be used in accordance with various embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF CERTAIN EMBODIMENTS

While various aspects and features of certain embodiments have beensummarized above, the following detailed description illustrates a fewexemplary embodiments in further detail to enable one of skill in theart to practice such embodiments. The described examples are providedfor illustrative purposes and are not intended to limit the scope of theinvention.

In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, numerousspecific details are set forth in order to provide a thoroughunderstanding of the described embodiments. It will be apparent to oneskilled in the art, however, that other embodiments of the present maybe practiced without some of these specific details. In other instances,certain structures and devices are shown in block diagram form. Severalembodiments are described herein, and while various features areascribed to different embodiments, it should be appreciated that thefeatures described with respect to one embodiment may be incorporatedwith other embodiments as well. By the same token, however, no singlefeature or features of any described embodiment should be consideredessential to every embodiment of the invention, as other embodiments ofthe invention may omit such features.

Unless otherwise indicated, all numbers used herein to expressquantities, dimensions, and so forth used should be understood as beingmodified in all instances by the term “about.” In this application, theuse of the singular includes the plural unless specifically statedotherwise, and use of the terms “and” and “or” means “and/or” unlessotherwise indicated. Moreover, the use of the term “including,” as wellas other forms, such as “includes” and “included,” should be considerednon-exclusive. Also, terms such as “element” or “component” encompassboth elements and components comprising one unit and elements andcomponents that comprise more than one unit, unless specifically statedotherwise.

Certain embodiments provide novel tools and techniques for distributingstatus information, including without limitation status informationabout commercial equipment. In a set of embodiments, a status monitoringdevice can be attached to, incorporated within, or otherwise placed incommunication with a piece of commercial equipment. A wide variety ofdifferent types of commercial equipment can be supported in accordancewith various embodiments. The status monitoring device can include anycomponents that are necessary or beneficial to determining the status ofthe equipment and/or communicating the status. Merely by way of example,in some cases, the status monitoring device might include a sensor (thenature of which can depend on the type of equipment being monitored), aprocessor in a computing system, and/or a communication interface. Thestatus monitoring device, then, can monitor the status of the equipmentand communicate that status in accordance with the techniques describedherein.

For instance, in a novel aspect, some embodiments can take advantage ofa social networking infrastructure to convey information (such as statusinformation about a piece of equipment). In some aspects, the use of asocial networking infrastructure can provide numerous advantages overconventional communication channels for equipment status information.Merely by way of example, in one aspect, a social networkinginfrastructure can be ubiquitous: Depending on the implementation, asocial networking infrastructure can be accessed by any device capableof running a thin client (or even sending a simple message, such as ane-mail message, text message, and/or the like) and/or communicatingusing Internet protocol.

In accordance with certain embodiments, the use of a social networkinginfrastructure as transport can provide advantages over traditionaltechniques for communicating status updates. Merely by way of example,rather than requiring the use of expensive, proprietary hardware and/oraccess methodologies, the use of the social networking infrastructureprovides a cost-effective solution to allow status updates from anydevice that can access a public network, such as the Internet. Thus, insome aspects, the publication of status updates through a socialnetworking infrastructure can provide a cost-effective, scalablesolution that can avoid the need to employ specialized communicationinfrastructure or proprietary communication hardware and software.

Different embodiments can be used to convey a wide variety of statusinformation, the communication of which is described herein as a “statusupdate.” The terms, “status information” and “status update,” are usedbroadly herein to describe any type of data or information that pertainsto the status of a monitored piece of equipment. The nature of thestatus information often will vary depending upon the type of equipmentbeing monitored. Merely by way of example, the status of mobileequipment (including without limitation vehicles) often might includethe location of such equipment, whether such equipment is currently inmotion, the present and/or historical velocity of the equipment, and/orwhether such equipment has moved over certain interval (e.g., since aprior status update); conversely, location information might not beparticularly useful with respect to fixed equipment, and in such a caselocation information might not be monitored or conveyed. In other cases,status information might include operational information about theequipment, such as information about a duration of use (e.g., in total,over a particular interval of time, etc.), information about whether theequipment currently is in use, information about an operational statusof the equipment (e.g., optimal, sub optimal, or nonoperational),information about equipment-specific parameters, and/or the like. In anembodiment, data regarding a maintenance request, based on duration ofmachine operation, can be placed by the equipment itself in a message toa maintenance logger associated with servicing the equipment.Alternatively, a maintenance request may be based on detection ofparameter threshold being exceeded, as measured on the equipment by abuilt-in monitor system. Such maintenance requests can be consideredstatus updates as well.

A few specific examples can illustrate some of the wide variety ofstatus information that can be monitored and/or conveyed by differentembodiments. If, for example, the monitored equipment is a surveyinstrument, such as a Total Station™ (several varieties of which areavailable from Trimble Navigation™), status information might include acurrent location (which may be expressed, e.g., as GNSS coordinates) ofthe Total Station, and/or a set of one or more past locations of theTotal Station.

Alternatively and/or additionally, the status information might includean indicator of the operational status of the Total Station; such anindicator might indicate whether the Total Station is completelyoperational, has limited operational capability (and/or diagnosticinformation about such limitations, which could include, merely by wayof example, an indication of misconfigured and/or nonoperationalcomponents). In other cases the status information might indicate acurrent operating mode or active function of the Total Station,including, for example, whether and/or how the Total Station is in useat the time of the status update.

In some cases (such as in the case of a Total Station), if the equipmentincludes instrumentation and/or processing capabilities, the statusinformation might include output from the equipment itself, such asoutput from the instrumentation and/or processor of the equipment.Merely by way of example, if a Total Station is used to determine thelocation of a measured point, the status information could include oneor more recently determined locations (along with any other suitableinformation, such as identifiers of the measured points, etc.).

As another example, some embodiments might be configured to monitor andconvey the status of a vehicle. Because a vehicle is mobile, statusupdates about a vehicle might include location updates (which could bepublished periodically, based on proximity to or distance fromparticular locations, etc., published on demand from an operator of thevehicle, etc.). Such updates could be in the form of coordinates (suchas GNSS coordinates, latitude-longitude coordinates, etc.), addresses,etc. In an aspect, certain embodiments can be used to monitorconstruction vehicles (e.g., heavy construction equipment, such asexcavators, tractors, earthmovers, etc.), vehicles within a fleet (inwhich the system can be used to monitor and track a plurality of suchvehicles), and/or the like.

In some embodiments, status updates for a vehicle can include otherinformation as well. Merely by way of example, in some cases, the statusupdate system might have access to vehicle operating parameters. Suchaccess can be provided by sensors in direct communication with vehiclesystems such as fuel feed systems, speedometer/odometer systems, etc.Alternatively and/or additionally, the status update system mightestablish communication with a vehicle data bus, using, for example, theOBDII standard that is common among passenger vehicles and/or any otherstandard or proprietary vehicle communication system. Vehicle operatingparameters can include a variety of parameters, such as fuel consumptiondata, fuel volume data, emissions data, vehicle speed and/oracceleration (either averaged over some period or as a snapshot),activation of vehicle warning or emergency systems (e.g., airbag,anti-lock brakes, “check engine” lights, etc.). A variety of vehicleoperating parameters are disclosed in commonly assigned, co-pending U.S.Patent Application Publication No. 2011/0184784 A1, the disclosure ofwhich is incorporated herein by reference. Vehicle status updates canalso include information about the operational status of the vehicle(e.g., operating normally, any indications of suboptimal operation,etc.). Based on these examples, one skilled in the art can appreciatethat virtually any information about a vehicle, it's location, and/orit's travel can be provided as a status update in accordance withvarious embodiments.

As another example, status updates can comprise asset trackinginformation. For instance, commonly assigned U.S. Patent ApplicationPublication No. 2010/0265061 A1, the disclosure of which is incorporatedby reference, discloses a number of systems and methods for assetmanagement. Such systems can be integrated with the status updatetechniques described herein. Merely by way of example, a mobile assettracking system can be configured to publish, in accordance with theembodiments described herein, status updates comprising asset trackingdata for any tracked assets. In another aspect, the status updatesdescribed herein can be used as the transport for a mobile assettracking system to provide asset tracking data to an asset trackingcomputer system, as described in the incorporated application.

As a further example, commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/902,013, filed Oct. 11, 2010 by Hamilton et al., the disclosure ofwhich is incorporated herein by reference, discloses systems formonitoring agricultural carbon. The status update techniques describedherein can be used to monitor (and report status on) various componentsof the carbon monitoring systems described in that application, such asthe mobile units and/or the vehicles associated with those mobile units.Additionally and/or alternatively, the status update techniquesdescribed herein can be used to transport carbon monitoring dataobtained or created by the mobile units disclosed in that application tothe carbon tracking server systems in that application (which can beconsidered back office systems or applications in accordance with theembodiments disclosed herein).

As yet another example, commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser.No. 13/095,673, filed Apr. 27, 2011 by Fosburgh et al., the disclosureof which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses systems formonitoring railway track geometry. The status update techniquesdescribed herein can be used to monitor (and report status on) variouscomponents of the track monitoring systems described in thatapplication. Additionally and/or alternatively, the status updatetechniques described herein can be used to transport track monitoringdata obtained or created by the track monitoring systems disclosed inthat application a remote server system for processing (and the remoteserver system could also be considered a back office system or could runa back office application in accordance with the embodiments disclosedherein).

As can be seen from the preceding examples, the scope and variety ofmachinery suitable for use by such a data collection and informationdistribution system is large. To list a few more examples, safetymanagement in hazardous operations could be improved by this system viastatus updates to indicate hazardous condition detection. Craneoperations, agricultural operations, manufacturing operations, earthmoving, construction, shipping, mobile chemical/fueldischarge/unloading, dredging, all can benefit from simple messagingsystems as described herein. Thus, virtually any type of status updates,from virtually any type of equipment, can be supported by variousembodiments, and these examples should not be considered limiting.

Turning now to the figures, FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating asystem 100 for providing status updates, in accordance with variousembodiments. The system 100 comprises one or more status monitoringdevices 105. In an aspect, each status monitoring device 105 monitorsand publishes updates on the status of a particular piece of commercialequipment 110, although there does not necessarily need to be aone-to-one relationship between a status monitoring device 105 and apiece of commercial equipment 110. For example, a single piece ofcommercial equipment 110 might be monitored by multiple statusmonitoring devices 105, and/or a single status monitoring device 105might monitor multiple pieces of commercial equipment 110.

As illustrated by FIG. 1, however, in a typical case, each piece ofequipment 110 will have associated therewith its own status monitoringdevice 105. While the system 100 of FIG. 1 features three pieces ofcommercial equipment, a piece of surveying equipment 110 a (e.g., aTotal Station), a vehicle 110 b, and a generic piece of commercialequipment 110 n (each having an associated status monitoring device 105a, 105 b, 105 n, respectively), various embodiments might include anynumber of status monitoring devices 105 and associated commercialequipment 110.

FIG. 2 provides a more detailed depiction of an exemplary statusmonitoring device 105. The illustrated device 105 comprises a sensor 205that is configured to monitor the status of the equipment 110. Thenature of the sensor 205 often will depend on the type of equipment 110that is being monitored and/or on the nature of the status informationthat is being monitored. Merely by way of example, in cases in which thelocation of the equipment 110 is to be monitored, the sensor 205 mightinclude a position measurement device, such as a global navigationsatellite system (“GNSS”) receiver, and/or an interface to a positionmeasurement device incorporated within the equipment 110 itself. Asanother example, if the equipment 110 includes a processing system, thesensor 205 might include an interface to provide communication betweenthe status monitoring device 105 and the processing system of theequipment 110. In yet other cases, the sensor 205 might provide directmeasurement of one or more conditions of the equipment 110 (such asoperating temperature, spatial orientation, velocity, electrical input,and/or the like) and/or ambient conditions (such as ambienttemperature/humidity, current time, and/or the like).

In some cases, the sensor 205 is incorporated directly within the statusmonitoring device 105. Additionally and/or alternatively, the sensor 205might be incorporated within the equipment 110 itself (e.g., as originalequipment and/or as an aftermarket modification); in such cases, thestatus monitoring device 105 might include an interface to communicatewith the sensor(s) incorporated within the equipment 110 itself. Merelyby way of example, a vehicle equipped with a diagnostic system mightinclude a plurality of sensors (such as fuel flow sensors, velocitysensors, emissions sensors, and/or the like), and rather thanduplicating the functionality of these sensors, the status monitoringdevice 105 might instead be equipped to interface with the vehiclediagnostic system itself (e.g., using a standard interface such as theOBDII interface and/or a proprietary interface). In other embodiments,the sensor 105 might be separate from the status monitoring device 105and the equipment 110 and/or might be in communication with either (orboth) the monitoring device 105 and the equipment 110 using appropriateinterfaces, which could include, without limitation, standard interfaces(such as USB interfaces, Ethernet interfaces, serial interfaces,wireless interfaces such as Bluetooth interfaces, WiFi interfaces, etc.)and/or proprietary interfaces.

In the illustrated embodiment, the status monitoring device 105 furthercomprises a processing system 210 in communication with the sensor 205and a communication interface 215 in communication with the processingsystem 210. In an aspect, the processing system 210 receives data fromthe sensor 205 and/or directly from the equipment 110 and performs anynecessary processing to interpret, condition, and/or format the receiveddata. In an embodiment, the processing system 210 also publishes and/orotherwise transmits an equipment status update, e.g., using thecommunication interface 215. As described in further detail below, theequipment status update might comprise and/or be derived from the datareceived by the processing system 210 from the sensor 205 and/or theequipment itself.

In an aspect, the processing system 210 might be a computer system, ageneric example of which is illustrated by FIG. 6 and described infurther detail below. In other embodiments, the processing system 210might comprise an embedded processor with firmware instructions, asystem on a chip (“SOC”), and/or the like. Any suitable processingsystem 210 may be employed so long as it is capable of performing thefunctionality described herein. The processing system 210, in an aspect,includes a status monitoring component (which can include hardware,firmware, or software instructions) that program the processing systemto operate with the functionality described herein. As illustrated, theprocessing system 210 is incorporated within the status monitoringdevice 105. In alternative embodiments, the processing system 210 mightbe incorporated within the equipment 110 itself and/or separate from(and/or in communication with) the equipment 110 and the statusmonitoring device 105.

The communication interface 215 can comprise any appropriatecommunication hardware and/or software to transmit the equipment statusupdates. Merely by way of example, in some cases, the communicationinterface 215 will include a wireless radio (such as a CDMA radio, a GSMradio, a WiFi radio, and/or the like). In other cases, the communicationinterface 215 might include a wired interface, such as an Ethernet portand associated chipset. (In one aspect, the communication interface 215might be provided by a communication subsystem of the processing system210; such a communication subsystem is described in further detail belowin relation to FIG. 6.) In some embodiments, in addition to providingcommunication with external devices (e.g., in order to publish equipmentstatus updates), the communication interface 215 might also providecommunication between the processing system 210 and the sensor 205and/or the equipment 110 as necessary.

In some embodiments, the communication interface 215 can also be used toreceive information, such as instructions for the processing system 210,e.g., instructions about what data to collect, what type(s) of statusupdate(s) to transmit, when to collect data and/or transmit updates,and/or the like. In particular cases, the processing system 210 might beconfigured to communicate with the equipment 110 in order to controlsome aspects of the operation of the equipment 110; thus, thecommunication interface 215 might function to receive instructions forcontrolling operation of the processing system 210 and/or the equipment110 itself.

The relationship between a status monitoring device 105 and thecommercial equipment 110 that it monitors can vary according to thenature of the equipment 110 and/or the status monitoring device 105.Merely by way of example, in some cases, the equipment 110 might not beadapted to communicate with the status monitoring device 105. In suchcases, the status monitoring device might monitor conditions independentof the equipment, such as the position and/or velocity of the statusmonitoring device 105 (which could be obtained from a position systemincorporated within the status monitoring device 105, for example), theambient temperature or other ambient environmental conditions inproximity to the equipment (which could be obtained by thermal sensorsand the like incorporated within the status monitoring device), etc.

In other embodiments, the status monitoring device 105 might include(and/or might be in communication with) one or more sensors 205 thathave been retrofit to the equipment 110. Such sensors could includeinternal thermal sensors to detect an operating temperature of theequipment 110 (and/or various components thereof), a power sensor placedinline with the power circuit of the equipment 110 to detect whether theequipment 110 is powered on, and/or the like.

In still other cases, the equipment 110 might include an interface forcommunicating with the status monitoring device 105 and/or one or moresensors thereof. Such an interface might be specialized for use with astatus monitoring device 105 and/or might be a standard interface (suchas the OBDII interface described above), with which the statusmonitoring device 105 (and/or a sensor thereof) might be configured tocommunicate using standard protocols. In yet other cases the equipment110 might be manufactured and/or retrofit with an integrated statusmonitoring device 105. Based on these examples, one skilled in the artshould understand that a wide variety of relationships can exist betweenvarious equipment 110 and associated status monitoring devices 105, andthat the scope of various embodiments should not be considered limitedto any particular relationship, so long as the status monitoring device105 can obtain the desired data and provide status updates as describedfurther herein.

Returning to FIG. 1, the system 100 might further comprise a socialnetworking infrastructure 115. In an aspect, the social networkinginfrastructure 115 can be any combination of hardware and software thatprovides a social networking environment for users. The terms, “socialnetwork,” and its derivatives are used broadly herein to refer to anyenvironment that allows for interaction between multiple entities (whichtypically will be users, but in accordance with embodiments describedherein might also be status monitoring devices 105 and/or computersystems that act as consumers of information published by statusmonitoring devices 105). Examples of social networks can include, butare not limited to web sites (or other facilities) that facilitateconnections between users (such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and the like),web-based blogs and microblogs, text message transmission systems(including Internet forums, chat faculties, instant messagingfacilities, short message service (“SMS”) facilities and the like),push-based information transmission systems (such as resourcedescription framework site summary (“RSS”) feeds, Twitter feeds, and thelike), and similar technologies.

Certain embodiments might employ a social networking infrastructure thatstandardized and/or available to the public (such as a public microblog,Twitter feed, and/or the like) as a transport to publish status updates.Other embodiments might employ a private and/or proprietary socialnetwork infrastructure as such a transport. In some cases, a privatesocial network infrastructure can be an infrastructure that is notavailable to the public in general, either by limiting physical orlogical access to the infrastructure through firewalls, etc., or throughimplementing access control mechanisms to prevent unauthorized access tothe infrastructure.

In accordance with FIG. 1, the system 100 includes a network 120 toprovide communication between the status monitoring devices 105 andother components of the system 105 (and in particular the socialnetworking infrastructure 115). The network 120 can be a wired network,wireless network, and/or a combination thereof. In some embodiments, thenetwork 120 might be a public network, such as the Internet, a publicswitched telephone network (“PSTN”), a public wireless network, and/orthe like. In other embodiments, the network 120 might comprise a privatenetwork (and/or a virtual private network (“VPN”). In an aspect, thenetwork 120 might comprise a plurality of interconnected networks (eachof which can be of any format—wired or wireless—and can be public orprivate). Virtually any configuration of the network 120 is possible, solong as it provides communication between the status monitoring devices105 and the social networking infrastructure 115.

It should be appreciated that the social networking infrastructure 115may be integrated with the network 120. Merely by way of example, a website on the Internet might be used as the social networkinginfrastructure 115. Alternatively and/or additionally, the socialnetworking infrastructure 115 might be separate from (but incommunication with) the network 120.

The system 100 also includes a client computer 125, which can be used,as described in further detail below, to receive published statusupdates. The client computer is in communication with the socialnetworking infrastructure 115, though which the updates are received.Although, for ease of illustration, the client computer 125 may insteadcommunicate with the social networking infrastructure 115 through thenetwork 120. In different embodiments, the client computer can be apersonal computer, a tablet computer, a handheld computer, a smartphone, and/or the like.

The client computer 125 might execute a software program (such as astatus update component) to receive and/or display status updates,and/or take one or more actions in response to receiving the statusupdates, as described in further detail below. In one aspect, thissoftware program might provide for the user a corporate dashboardenvironment, as described in further detail below. In some cases,software program might be a dedicated client application that isconfigured specifically to receive status updates from the socialnetworking infrastructure 115. In other cases, a general-purposeprogram, such as a web browser, RSS feed reader, and/or the like mightbe used to receive and or display status updates. Based on thedisclosure herein, it should be appreciated that a wide variety ofhardware and/or software configurations can be employed to serve as theclient computer 125, so long as they can perform the functions describedherein with respect to that device.

In an aspect, the client computer 125 comprises a user interface. Theuser interface allows users to interact with the client computer 125. Avariety of user interfaces may be provided in accordance with variousembodiments, including without limitation graphical user interfaces thatdisplay, for a user, display screens for providing information to theuser and/or receiving user input from a user. (An example of one suchdisplay screen is described below with respect to FIG. 5.)

Merely by way of example, in some embodiments, social networkinginfrastructure 115 may be configured to communicate with the clientcomputer 125 via a dedicated application running on the client computer125; in this situation, the user interface might be displayed by theclient computer, based on data and/or instructions provided by thesocial networking infrastructure 115. In this case, providing the userinterface might comprise providing instructions and/or data to cause theclient computer to display the user interface. In other embodiments, theuser interface may be provided from a web site, e.g., by providing a setof one or more web pages, which might be displayed in a web browserrunning on the client computer 125 and/or might be served by a webserver (not shown on FIG. 1). In various embodiments, the socialnetworking infrastructure 115 might comprise the web server and/or be incommunication with the web server, such that the social networkinginfrastructure 115 provides data (e.g., status updates) to the webserver to be incorporated in web pages served by the web server forreception and/or display by a browser at the client computer 125.

In some embodiments, the system 100 further comprises a back officesystem 130. In an aspect, the back office system 130 can be a servercomputer system that runs one or more of a variety of back officeapplications. Such back office applications can include, but are notlimited to enterprise resource planning applications, customer relationsmanagement applications, supply chain management applications, businessapplication suites, accounting applications, and/or the like. One typeof back office application is a visual organizer system, as describedbelow; another type of back office application is often described as anenterprise application or an enterprise application suite. Suchenterprise applications are available from providers such as Oracle™,SAP™, and the like. Back office applications are often database driven.In accordance with some embodiments then, the back office system 130 canreceive status updates from the social networking infrastructure 115,with which the back office system is in communication (e.g., directly,through the network 120, through the client computer 125, etc.). Thus,in accordance with these embodiments, a status that they can be used toupdate a back office application (e.g., by updating data in a databaseused by the back office application, by providing updated data directlyto the back office application, and/or the like).

Merely by way of example, a piece of equipment 110 might be leased, andthe billing arrangement for the leased equipment 110 might includebilling based on the duration of use of the equipment. In thissituation, a status monitoring device 105 that monitors the status ofthe equipment 110 may be configured to provide status updates indicatinga duration of each period of use of the equipment 110 (and/or a startand stop time of each period of use). The status updates might bepublished (e.g., through the social networking infrastructure 115) andreceived by the back office system 130. The back office system 130 mightthen use the status updates to determine duration of use of theequipment 110 and create and/or update billing records accordingly.

FIGS. 3 and 4 illustrate various methods that can be used to provideequipment status updates in accordance with various embodiments. Whilethe methods of FIGS. 3 and 4 are illustrated, for ease of description,as different methods, it should be appreciated that the varioustechniques and procedures of these methods can be combined in anysuitable fashion, and that, in some embodiments, the methods depicted byFIGS. 3 and 4 can be considered interoperable and/or as portions of asingle method. Similarly, while the techniques and procedures aredepicted and/or described in a certain order for purposes ofillustration, it should be appreciated that certain procedures may bereordered and/or omitted within the scope of various embodiments.Moreover, while the methods illustrated by FIGS. 3 and 4 can beimplemented by (and, in some cases, are described below with respect to)the system 100 of FIG. 1 (or components thereof), these methods may alsobe implemented using any suitable hardware implementation. Similarly,while the system 100 of FIG. 1 (and/or components thereof) can operateaccording to the methods illustrated by FIGS. 3 and 4 (e.g., byexecuting instructions embodied on a computer readable medium), thesystem 100 can also operate according to other modes of operation and/orperform other suitable procedures.

FIG. 3 is a process flow diagram illustrating a method 300 of publishingstatus updates, in accordance with various embodiments. In one aspect,one or more operations of the method 300 might be performed by a statusmonitoring device as described above.

The method 300 comprises determining a status of a piece of commercialequipment. In accordance with various embodiments, determining thestatus of a piece of commercial equipment can involve any of a number ofoperations. In some cases, a status monitoring device receives data froma sensor and/or from the commercial equipment itself, for example asdescribed above. In the description of the method 300, any reference tothe term “status monitoring device” should be interpreted to refer notonly to the exemplary device described with respect to FIG. 2, but moregenerally to any computer system that can perform the monitoring andcommunication functions described herein with respect to a statusmonitoring device; such a device may or may not be integrated with thecommercial equipment itself.

Based on this data, the status monitoring device can determine thestatus of the equipment. In some cases, determining the status of theequipment can comprise analyzing the data received from the sensorsagainst one or more criteria and/or interpreting the data received fromthe sensors. In an aspect, these operations can be performed by thestatus monitoring device, which is programmed with instructions (e.g.firmware, software, etc.) to process the sensor data in order to derivethe status of the equipment from the received data. As described above,a variety of parameters or characteristics of the commercial equipmentcan be monitored. Such parameters or characteristics can include,without limitation, positional information (e.g., location of theequipment, velocity and/or direction of movement of the equipment,etc.), operational information about the equipment (e.g., whether theequipment is in operational state, any operational parameters pertainingto the efficiency and/or efficacy of equipment, and/or the like), usageinformation about the equipment (e.g., whether the equipment is in use,how long the equipment has been in use—or not in use—a time at whichusage of equipment began or ended, etc.), and virtually any other typeof information that is subject to change over time and/or can bemonitored. The status of the commercial equipment can depend on any suchmonitored information.

Thus, it should be appreciated that the status of the equipment is oftencontext-dependent; for example, if the location of the equipment is ofinterest, the status of the equipment might be the equipment's currentlocation and/or whether the equipment has moved over particular windowof time (e.g. since a prior status update). By contrast, if theoperability of the equipment is of interest, the status of the equipmentmight be whether the claimant is currently in operation and/oroperational, or whether the equipment is experiencing any problems thatprevent proper operation. As another example, if usage of the equipmentis of interest, the status of the equipment can include whether and forhow long the equipment is in use or has been used over a particularwindow of time (e.g., since a prior status update). Thus, determiningthe status of the commercial equipment can include any of a number ofoperations that receive and/or process information about the commercialequipment to identify any characteristics of the equipment at the timeof the status update (and/or any changes in such characteristics). Itshould be noted that multiple characteristics of a particular piece ofequipment might be monitored and/or reported as status updates: forexample, with respect to a vehicle, the status monitoring device (ormultiple status monitoring devices) might track (and report) positionalinformation about the vehicle, usage information about the vehicle, andoperational information about the vehicle.

From this status information, the status monitoring device can generatea status update. In many cases, the generation of the status update willinvolve distilling the received data into a set of content (e.g., ablock of text, etc.) that meets the requirements of the socialnetworking infrastructure that will be used to publish the statusupdated. (One skilled in the art will appreciate that many socialnetworking infrastructures restrict the amount of information that canbe conveyed—for example, SMS messages and Twitter messages are limitedto a specified number of alphanumeric characters.) In many cases, thesensor data will exceed this capacity (and reporting a direct feed froma sensor would not be helpful in any event), so the status monitoringdevice may be configured to assimilate the received data into a brief,comprehensible summary. For example, input from a position sensor (e.g.,a GNSS sensor) might include coordinates and a time stamp. The statusmonitoring device might receive multiple inputs from the position sensorover a period of time and process those inputs to produce a statusupdate that reads “<date> <time>: <current location>, <velocity>,” (forexample, “2011-08-01 02: Pos 40-00′12″N 105-15′40″W, Vel 43 mph NW”).

In certain situations, the information to be conveyed in a status updatemight exceed the limitations imposed by the social networkinginfrastructure. In such situations, generating a status update mightinclude additional operations. Merely by way of example, the statusmonitoring device might split the status update into multiple portions,each of which is within any applicable limitations imposed by the socialnetworking infrastructure, in order that the status update can bepublished as multiple, separate posts or communications via the socialnetworking infrastructure. In other cases, for example, if the statusupdate includes rich content (e.g., images, audio, and/or video) orsufficient text to render multiple posts undesirable, generating thestatus update might include posting the content to a website or otherhosting location, obtaining a URL for accessing the posted location, andincluding that URL in the status update to be published over the socialnetworking infrastructure.

The method 300 further comprises accessing a social networkinginfrastructure. In an advantage of certain embodiments, the use of asocial networking infrastructure as an information transport can avoidthe need to implement expensive proprietary systems to communicatebetween equipment and entities (e.g., users, monitoring systems, etc.)responsible for monitoring status of that equipment. In an aspect, then,a status monitoring device (or the computer system responsible forpublishing status updates) can implement standard communicationtechniques and/or protocols to access the social networkinginfrastructure in order to publish status updates. Merely by way ofexample, in some cases status monitoring device will communicate over apublic network and/or combination of networks (e.g., directcommunication with a wireless access network that provides access to theInternet) using a standard protocol (e.g. Internet protocol and/or anyof the derivative protocols that use Internet protocol as a basetransport). Thus, accessing the social networking infrastructure caninclude using IP communication to establish communication with ahostname, IP address, etc. that serves as an interface for the socialnetworking infrastructure to receive posts (or any other formcommunication that is used to communicate over that particular socialnetworking infrastructure).

In some cases, accessing the social networking infrastructure mightfurther include any operations necessary to identify the statusmonitoring device (and/or the equipment itself) to the social networkinginfrastructure, so that the status update to be published will beassociated with the correct device/equipment. This identificationprocedure might include authentication and/or authorization (using anyof a variety of well-known authentication/authorization techniques) inorder to prevent the publication of counterfeit status updates.

At block 315, the method 300 comprises publishing a status update usingthe social networking infrastructure. In an aspect, the status updateserves to report on the tracked characteristics of the monitoredequipment; thus, the status update can indicate the status of the pieceof commercial equipment. Publishing a status update, then, can includeany operations necessary to communicate with the social networkinginfrastructure in order to post (or otherwise communicate) the statusupdate using the social networking infrastructure. It should beappreciated that such operations generally will vary depending on theselected social network infrastructure. Merely by way of example, insome cases, the status update can be published by sending an e-mailmessage to an address designed to receive communications to be publishedover the social working infrastructure. In other cases, the statusupdate might be sent as an SMS message over a cellular network, eitherto a set of phone numbers (or SMS gateways) that the status monitoringdevice maintains in a distribution list or to a particular telephonenumber (or SMS gateway) that is used to forward the status updates tosubscribers. In still other cases, status update might be posted usingappropriate HTTP communications to a web server that maintains thesocial networking infrastructure (and/or serves as a communicationgateway thereto), for example, in the case of a blog or microblog. Thus,depending on the nature of the social network infrastructure, anynecessary operations can be performed to communicate the status updateusing the standard procedures supported by that infrastructure.

In some cases, the method 300 might include encoding the status update(block 320) when generating (and/or prior to publishing) the statusupdate. Any encoding scheme (including any of several well-knownencoding schemes) can be used to encode the status update, and thenature of the encoding scheme selected often will depend on the purposefor the encoding. Merely by way of example, in some cases, statusupdates may be published using a public social networkinginfrastructure; however, the status updates might include confidentialor sensitive information that should not be available for publicinspection. In such cases, encoding the status update can includeencrypting the status update (e.g., using any of a number of availableencryption technologies). In other cases, a status update might beencoded for efficient transmission. For example, the status monitoringdevice and any receiving devices might share a common set of codes thatserve as indicators for various status conditions (such as normaloperation, particular trouble conditions, and/or the like), and theinformation in a status update can be encoded at the status monitoringdevice to provide for compact transmission in a status update anddecoded at the receiving device for display to the user.

FIG. 4 is a process flow diagram illustrating a method 400 of receivingpublished status updates, in accordance with various embodiments. Insome embodiments, various operations of the method 400 can be performedby a client computer and/or a back office computer.

The method 400 comprises, in some embodiments, providing a userinterface (block 405) to allow interaction between a user and the clientcomputer. For example, the user interface can be used to outputinformation for a user, e.g., by displaying the information on a displaydevice, printing information with a printer, playing audio through aspeaker, etc.; the user interface can also function to receive inputfrom a user, e.g., using standard input devices such as mice and otherpointing devices, motion capture devices, touchpads and/or touchscreens,keyboards (e.g., numeric and/or alphabetic), microphones, etc. Theprocedures undertaken to provide a user interface, therefore, can varydepending on the nature of the implementation; in some cases, providinga user interface can comprise displaying the user interface on a displaydevice; in other cases, however, in which the user interface isdisplayed on a device remote from the computer system (such as on aclient computer, wireless device, etc.), providing the user interfacemight comprise formatting data for transmission to such a device and/ortransmitting, receiving and/or interpreting data that is used to createthe user interface on the remote device. Alternatively and/oradditionally, the user interface on a client computer (or any otherappropriate user device) might be a web interface, in which the userinterface is provided through one or more web pages that are served froma computer system (and/or a web server in communication with thecomputer system), and are received and displayed by a web browser on theclient computer (or other capable user device). The web pages candisplay output from the computer system and receive input from the user(e.g., by using Web-based forms, via hyperlinks, electronic buttons,etc.). A variety of techniques can be used to create these Web pagesand/or display/receive information, such as JavaScript, Javaapplications or applets, dynamic HTML and/or AJAX technologies, to namebut a few examples.

In many cases, providing a user interface will comprise providing one ormore display screens (such as, merely by way of example, the corporatedashboard environment described with respect to FIG. 5), each of whichincludes one or more user interface elements. As used herein, the term“user interface element” (also described as a “user interface mechanism”or a “user interface device”) means any text, image, or device that canbe displayed on a display screen for providing information to a userand/or for receiving user input. Some such elements are commonlyreferred to as “widgets,” and can include, without limitation, text,text boxes, text fields, tables and/or grids, menus, toolbars, charts,hyperlinks, buttons, lists, combo boxes, checkboxes, radio buttons,and/or the like. While any illustrated exemplary display screens mightemploy specific user interface elements appropriate for the type ofinformation to be conveyed/received by computer system in accordancewith the described embodiments, it should be appreciated that the choiceof user interface elements for a particular purpose is typicallyimplementation-dependent and/or discretionary. Hence, the illustrateduser interface elements employed by any display screens described hereinshould be considered exemplary in nature, and the reader shouldappreciate that other user interface elements could be substitutedwithin the scope of various embodiments.

As noted above, in an aspect of certain embodiments, the user interfaceprovides interaction between a user and a computer system. Hence, whenthis document describes procedures for displaying (or otherwiseproviding) information to a user, or to receiving input from a user, theuser interface may be the vehicle for the exchange of such input/output.Merely by way of example, in a set of embodiments, the user interfacedisplays status updates in accordance with the procedures described infurther detail below.

At block 410, the method 400 comprises receiving user input, e.g., viathe user interface at a client computer. A variety of different types ofuser input can be received in accordance with different embodiments.Merely by way of example, in some cases, the user input will indicate adesired configuration of a corporate dashboard environment, as describedin further detail below. In a particular case, however, the user inputwill identify one or more pieces of commercial equipment for which theuser would like to receive status updates. The nature of this user inputcan vary by implementation. Merely by way of example, in some cases theuser interface might provide a list of all monitored pieces ofcommercial equipment, and the room put my include one or more selectionsfrom that list. In other cases, the user input might be text inputindicating an identity of the piece of equipment (which may correspondto identifier on the applicable social networking infrastructure, suchas a user ID, wireless phone number, etc.). Merely by way of example, ifTwitter is the selected social networking infrastructure, the user inputmight indicate that the user would like to “follow” a particular user IDassociated with the commercial equipment these would like to monitor(and/or the status monitoring device associated with that equipment).

The method 400, in some embodiments, further comprises identifying apiece of commercial equipment for which the user would like to receivestatus updates (block 415). In some cases, the identification of thecommercial equipment is based on the received user input. In othercases, the commercial equipment might be identified automatically (e.g.,based on the user's role within a company, etc.) and/or based onconfiguration by an administrator, etc.

At block 420, the method 400 comprises subscribing to updates from thepiece of commercial equipment. The procedure used to subscribe toupdates often will depend on the nature of the social networkinginfrastructure used to publish the status updates. Returning again tothe example of Twitter, subscribing to updates from a piece ofcommercial equipment might comprise logging into the user's Twitteraccount and indicating that the user would like to “follow” the username(or “handle”) associated with the equipment (and/or its statusmonitoring device). In other cases, subscribing to updates mightcomprise subscribing to an RSS feed used to publish the updates. Instill other cases (for example, if the updates are published as SMSmessages), subscribing to the updates might comprise contacting thestatus monitoring device itself and requesting that the user (and/or atelephone number for the user and/or for an SMS gateway accessible bythe user) be added to a distribution list to which updates are sent;alternatively, if the status monitoring device is configured to sendupdates to a particular SMS gateway that forwards the updates,subscribing to updates might comprise requesting such updates from theforwarding gateway. In any case, the client computer might be configuredto perform these subscriptions automatically, based on theidentification of the equipment.

At block 425, the computer system receives a published status update(e.g., via the social networking infrastructure through which the updatewas published). As with other operations described herein, the way inwhich the status updates are received can depend on the nature of theclient software and the social networking infrastructure itself. Merelyby way of example, in some cases, the social networking infrastructuremight be designed to “push” updates to clients that have subscribed. Inother cases, the client software might be configured to poll the socialnetworking infrastructure (e.g., periodically, on an interval thatensures that updates are received in timely fashion).

If necessary, the status update is decoded (block 430). As noted above,the status update might be encoded and/or encrypted prior topublication, and the client computer can perform the inverse operation(e.g., decoding and/or decrypting the status update) upon receiving thepublished update.

In some cases, the method 400 will include taking one or more actions inresponse to receiving the status update (block 435). As illustrated bythe broken line in FIG. 4, the operations of receiving and/or decoding astatus update, along with taking any appropriate action, generally willbe repeated as new status updates are published, either by the sameequipment (or associated status monitoring device) or by differentpieces of equipment (or associated status monitoring devices) to whichthe user has subscribed.

In accordance with different embodiments, a number of different actionscan be taken upon receiving the status update. Merely by way of example,the method 400 might include displaying the status update for a user(block 440). Status updates can be displayed in many different ways,depending on the embodiment. Merely by way of example, in some cases,the status updates might be displayed in a chronological (or reversedchronological), textual list in a web browser or client software.

In other cases, particularly when the status updates include locationinformation, displaying a status update might comprise displaying thecurrent location of the equipment on a map. For example, the locationinformation in the status update might be expressed as a street addressand/or a set of coordinates (e.g. latitude/longitude coordinates). Theclient computer, therefore, might be configured to identify anappropriate map image that includes the location indicated by the statusupdate (e.g., using any of a variety of well-known and/or commerciallyavailable techniques), display that map image, and display the currentlocation of the equipment as an overlay on the map image. This overlaymight include an icon indicating the location of the equipment, a legendor key identifying the equipment itself, a textual identification of thelocation, and/or the like.

In some cases, as subsequent status updates, indicating updatedlocations of the equipment, are published and/or received, displayingthe status update can include updating the displayed map to show thecurrent location of the equipment in each instance. If desired,historical locations of the equipment (e.g., as indicated in priorstatus updates and/or is determined by other techniques) can beindicated on the displayed map as well, illustrating for the user atravel path of the equipment.

Similarly, if the client computer has subscribed to status updates frommultiple pieces of equipment (e.g., vehicles) that publish locationupdates, the map display can be configured to display locations of eachof the tracked vehicles (or other equipment). In such cases, the displaymay be configured to distinguish between each vehicle and/or piece ofequipment using different colors, icon shapes, and/or other visualdistinctions. Thus, if the client receives multiple status updates fromvehicles (e.g., within a fleet of vehicles), the system can display eachof the status updates for the user (as indicators on a map, as a textuallist of updates, etc.)

In a particular embodiment, the client computer can be configured todisplay a corporate dashboard environment, and displaying the statusupdates (e.g., as text, as a map, etc.) can including displaying thestatus updates as part of the corporate dashboard environment. In somecases, the corporate dashboard environment might be provided by adedicated application. In other cases, the corporate dashboardenvironment can be provided served as a web page and displayed in a webbrowser at the client computer. In one aspect, the corporate dashboardenvironment is configured to consolidate a variety of different types ofinformation for the user. Thus, in particular embodiments, the corporatedashboard environment might comprise a plurality of information panels,one (or more) of which can be used to display status updates.

Merely by way of example, FIG. 5 is an exemplary display screen on whichstatus updates can be displayed, in accordance with various embodiments.The display screen, as illustrated, displays a corporate dashboardenvironment 500. The environment 500 can include a plurality ofinformation panes. For example, as illustrated, the environment 500includes a status update panel 505, which displays equipment statusupdates as they are received. Thus, as a plurality of status updates arereceived, the status update panel 505 is updated to display those statusupdates, without requiring any interaction from the user. Asillustrated, the status update panel 505 is configured to display thetime of each update and the source of the update (indicated by an “@”character in the illustrated embodiment), and the status update panel isconfigured to display the status updates in reverse chronological order,so that the newest updates are displayed at the top of the list. (Itshould be appreciated, of course, that these design choices arediscretionary, and that other implementations might use differentdisplay techniques and/or allow the user to configure the display of thestatus updates.)

The environment 500 might also include an information panel 510 fordisplaying corporate information, which can include information that ispublished by (and/or otherwise obtained from) internal corporate sourcesand/or pertains to corporate interests. In some cases, the corporateinformation panel 510 is configured to provide access to (and todisplay) secure corporate information (using appropriate authenticationand/or authorization techniques to access secure corporate informationsources).

In some cases, the environment 500 can include an email inbox panel 515and/or a calendar pane 520, which might be populated with data from amail server, calendar server, etc. These components might be configuredto operate as standard mail and/or calendar clients, as known in theart. In a particular embodiment, the environment 500 might include aninformation panel 525 to display public information (e.g., from a publicsocial network) and/or an information panel 530 that provides a chat orinstant messaging interface. Such panels might be configured to operateas standard social networking, newsreader and/or chat/messaging clientsas known in the art.

In an aspect of some embodiments, the information panels 505-530 areimplemented as dashboard widgets. In such cases, the information panels505-530 might be customizable by the user. For example, the user mightbe given the option (e.g., through the user interface) to provide userinput on which of a plurality of panels (of which the illustrated panelsmight be a subset) the user would like to display, how such panelsshould be sized and arranged, what information should be included in (orexcluded from) each panel, and/or the like.

Returning to FIG. 4, taking an action in response to the status updatemight include updating a back office application (block 445) based onthe status update. As noted above, for example, this operation caninclude updating a database with information from a status update,modifying data in a back office application itself, and/or the like.

In some cases, taking an action might comprise determining anoperational problem with the commercial equipment (block 450). Merely byway of example, the client software might be configured to parse thestatus update (perhaps as part of the decoding process) to identify anyindicators of a problem with the monitored equipment. If the statusupdate indicates that the equipment is not fully operational (or is notin use when expected to be in use), and/or if the status update includesa maintenance request, error code, or other indication of an errorcondition, the client software could be configured to identify suchinformation as indicating an operation problem with the equipment.Alternatively and/or additionally, the client software might beconfigured with threshold values indicating a normal operating range ofa monitored equipment parameter (such as operating temperature, to nameone example), and if a status update indicates a value of that parameterthat falls outside the normal operating range, the client software mightidentify that value as indicating an operational problem. (In somecases, there might be a plurality of ranges of values defined. Merely byway of example, for a particular parameter for a piece of equipment, theclient software might define a normal operating range, an abnormaloperating range, and a critical range, and the software might beconfigured to determine, based on a value in the status update, whetherthe operational status of the equipment is normal, abnormal orcritical.)

The method 400 can further include alerting the user to the operationalproblem with the equipment (block 455). This alert can be accomplishedin a number of ways. Merely by way of example, in some cases, thedisplay of the status update might be modified to indicate an alert (bychanging the color, typeface, etc. of the displayed update). In othercases, the system might be configured to send an email message to theuser or another person (or place a message in an email inbox within acorporate dashboard environment). In other cases, the system might senda text/SMS message to a user. Any of a variety of modes can be used toalert the user to the operational problem with the equipment.

As another example of taking an action in response to receiving a statusupdate, a computer system might be configured to add the status update(or the information therein) to a visual organizer system, such as thevisual organizer system disclosed in commonly-assigned U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 12/894,845, filed Sep. 30, 2010 by Darby et al.That application discloses, inter alia, techniques and systems toorganize information via associated geospatial data. Status updatesreceived by a computer system as disclosed herein could be used as inputdata for such techniques and systems. Alternatively and/or additionally,as noted above, a tool such as the disclosed visual organizer could beconsidered a back office application, as that term is used herein.

FIG. 6 provides a schematic illustration of one embodiment of a computersystem 600 that can perform the methods provided by various otherembodiments, as described herein, and/or can function as a servercomputer system, a client computer, a status monitoring device, and/orthe like. It should be noted that FIG. 6 is meant only to provide ageneralized illustration of various components, of which one or more (ornone) of each may be utilized as appropriate. FIG. 6, therefore, broadlyillustrates how individual system elements may be implemented in arelatively separated or relatively more integrated manner.

The computer system 600 is shown comprising hardware elements that canbe electrically coupled via a bus 605 (or may otherwise be incommunication, as appropriate). The hardware elements may include one ormore processors 610, including without limitation one or moregeneral-purpose processors and/or one or more special-purpose processors(such as digital signal processing chips, graphics accelerationprocessors, and/or the like); one or more input devices 615, which caninclude without limitation a mouse, a keyboard and/or the like; and oneor more output devices 620, which can include without limitation adisplay device, a printer and/or the like.

The computer system 600 may further include (and/or be in communicationwith) one or more storage devices 625, which can comprise, withoutlimitation, local and/or network accessible storage, and/or can include,without limitation, a disk drive, a drive array, an optical storagedevice, solid-state storage device such as a random access memory(“RAM”) and/or a read-only memory (“ROM”), which can be programmable,flash-updateable and/or the like. Such storage devices may be configuredto implement any appropriate data stores, including without limitation,various file systems, database structures, and/or the like.

The computer system 600 might also include a communications subsystem630, which can include without limitation a modem, a network card(wireless or wired), an infra-red communication device, a wirelesscommunication device and/or chipset (such as a Bluetooth™ device, an802.11 device, a WiFi device, a WiMax device, a WWAN device, cellularcommunication facilities, etc.), and/or the like. The communicationssubsystem 630 may permit data to be exchanged with a network (such asthe network described below, to name one example), with other computersystems, and/or with any other devices described herein. In manyembodiments, the computer system 600 will further comprise a workingmemory 635, which can include a RAM or ROM device, as described above.

The computer system 600 also may comprise software elements, shown asbeing currently located within the working memory 635, including anoperating system 640, device drivers, executable libraries, and/or othercode, such as one or more application programs 645, which may comprisecomputer programs provided by various embodiments, and/or may bedesigned to implement methods, and/or configure systems, provided byother embodiments, as described herein. Merely by way of example, one ormore procedures described with respect to the method(s) discussed abovemight be implemented as code and/or instructions executable by acomputer (and/or a processor within a computer); in an aspect, then,such code and/or instructions can be used to configure and/or adapt ageneral purpose computer (or other device) to perform one or moreoperations in accordance with the described methods.

A set of these instructions and/or code might be encoded and/or storedon a non-transitory computer readable storage medium, such as thestorage device(s) 625 described above. In some cases, the storage mediummight be incorporated within a computer system, such as the system 600.In other embodiments, the storage medium might be separate from acomputer system (i.e., a removable medium, such as a compact disc,etc.), and/or provided in an installation package, such that the storagemedium can be used to program, configure and/or adapt a general purposecomputer with the instructions/code stored thereon. These instructionsmight take the form of executable code, which is executable by thecomputer system 600 and/or might take the form of source and/orinstallable code, which, upon compilation and/or installation on thecomputer system 600 (e.g., using any of a variety of generally availablecompilers, installation programs, compression/decompression utilities,etc.) then takes the form of executable code.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that substantialvariations may be made in accordance with specific requirements. Forexample, customized hardware (such as programmable logic controllers,field-programmable gate arrays, application-specific integratedcircuits, and/or the like) might also be used, and/or particularelements might be implemented in hardware, software (including portablesoftware, such as applets, etc.), or both. Further, connection to othercomputing devices such as network input/output devices may be employed.

As mentioned above, in one aspect, some embodiments may employ acomputer system (such as the computer system 600) to perform methods inaccordance with various embodiments of the invention. According to a setof embodiments, some or all of the procedures of such methods areperformed by the computer system 600 in response to processor 610executing one or more sequences of one or more instructions (which mightbe incorporated into the operating system 640 and/or other code, such asan application program 645) contained in the working memory 635. Suchinstructions may be read into the working memory 635 from anothercomputer readable medium, such as one or more of the storage device(s)625. Merely by way of example, execution of the sequences ofinstructions contained in the working memory 635 might cause theprocessor(s) 610 to perform one or more procedures of the methodsdescribed herein.

The terms “machine readable medium” and “computer readable medium,” asused herein, refer to any medium that participates in providing datathat causes a machine to operation in a specific fashion. In anembodiment implemented using the computer system 600, various computerreadable media might be involved in providing instructions/code toprocessor(s) 610 for execution and/or might be used to store and/orcarry such instructions/code (e.g., as signals). In manyimplementations, a computer readable medium is a non-transitory,physical and/or tangible storage medium. Such a medium may take manyforms, including but not limited to, non-volatile media, volatile media,and transmission media. Non-volatile media includes, for example,optical and/or magnetic disks, such as the storage device(s) 625.Volatile media includes, without limitation, dynamic memory, such as theworking memory 635. Transmission media includes, without limitation,coaxial cables, copper wire and fiber optics, including the wires thatcomprise the bus 605, as well as the various components of thecommunication subsystem 630 (and/or the media by which thecommunications subsystem 630 provides communication with other devices).Hence, transmission media can also take the form of waves (includingwithout limitation radio, acoustic and/or light waves, such as thosegenerated during radio-wave and infra-red data communications).

Common forms of physical and/or tangible computer readable mediainclude, for example, a floppy disk, a flexible disk, a hard disk,magnetic tape, or any other magnetic medium, a CD-ROM, any other opticalmedium, punch cards, paper tape, any other physical medium with patternsof holes, a RAM, a PROM, and EPROM, a FLASH-EPROM, any other memory chipor cartridge, a carrier wave as described hereinafter, or any othermedium from which a computer can read instructions and/or code.

Various forms of computer readable media may be involved in carrying oneor more sequences of one or more instructions to the processor(s) 610for execution. Merely by way of example, the instructions may initiallybe carried on a magnetic disk and/or optical disc of a remote computer.A remote computer might load the instructions into its dynamic memoryand send the instructions as signals over a transmission medium to bereceived and/or executed by the computer system 600. These signals,which might be in the form of electromagnetic signals, acoustic signals,optical signals and/or the like, are all examples of carrier waves onwhich instructions can be encoded, in accordance with variousembodiments of the invention.

The communications subsystem 630 (and/or components thereof) generallywill receive the signals, and the bus 605 then might carry the signals(and/or the data, instructions, etc. carried by the signals) to theworking memory 635, from which the processor(s) 605 retrieves andexecutes the instructions. The instructions received by the workingmemory 635 may optionally be stored on a storage device 625 eitherbefore or after execution by the processor(s) 610.

As noted above, a set of embodiments comprises systems for providingequipment status updates. FIG. 7 illustrates a schematic diagram of asystem 700 that can be used in accordance with one set of embodiments.The system 700 can include one or more user computers 705, which canserve as the client computers 125 described in conjunction with FIG. 1.A user computer 705 can be a general purpose personal computer(including, merely by way of example, desktop computers, laptopcomputers, handheld computers, and the like, running any appropriateoperating system, several of which are available from vendors such asApple, Microsoft Corp., and the like) and/or a workstation computerrunning any of a variety of commercially-available UNIX™ or UNIX-likeoperating systems. A user computer 705 can also have any of a variety ofapplications, including one or more applications configured to performmethods provided by various embodiments (as described above, forexample), as well as one or more office applications, database clientand/or server applications, and/or web browser applications.Alternatively, a user computer 705 can be any other electronic device,such as a thin-client computer, Internet-enabled mobile telephone,and/or personal digital assistant, capable of communicating via anetwork (e.g., the network 710 described below) and/or of displaying andnavigating web pages or other types of electronic documents. Althoughthe exemplary system 700 is shown with three user computers 705, anynumber of user computers can be supported.

Certain embodiments operate in a networked environment, which caninclude a network 710. The network 710 can serve as the network 120 ofthe system 100 described in conjunction with FIG. 1 and can be any typeof network familiar to those skilled in the art that can support datacommunications using any of a variety of commercially-available (and/orfree or proprietary) protocols, including without limitation TCP/IP,SNA™, IPX™, AppleTalk™, and the like. Merely by way of example, thenetwork 710 can include a local area network (“LAN”), including withoutlimitation a fiber network, an Ethernet network, a Token-Ring™ networkand/or the like; a wide-area network; a wireless wide area network(“WWAN”); a virtual network, such as a virtual private network (“VPN”);the Internet; an intranet; an extranet; a public switched telephonenetwork (“PSTN”); an infra-red network; a wireless network, includingwithout limitation a network operating under any of the IEEE 802.11suite of protocols, the Bluetooth™ protocol known in the art, and/or anyother wireless protocol; and/or any combination of these and/or othernetworks.

Embodiments can also include one or more server computers 715. Each ofthe server computers 715 may be configured with an operating system,including without limitation any of those discussed above, as well asany commercially (or freely) available server operating systems. Each ofthe servers 715 may also be running one or more applications, which canbe configured to provide services to one or more clients 705 and/orother servers 715.

Merely by way of example, one of the servers 715 can serve as a backoffice system in accordance with various embodiments. In other cases,one of the servers 715 might host the social networking infrastructureand/or might be a web server, which can be used, merely by way ofexample, to process requests for web pages or other electronic documentsfrom user computers 705. The web server can also run a variety of serverapplications, including HTTP servers, FTP servers, CGI servers, databaseservers, Java servers, and the like. In some embodiments of theinvention, the web server may be configured to serve web pages that canbe operated within a web browser on one or more of the user computers705 to perform methods of the invention.

The server computers 715, in some embodiments, might include one or moreapplication servers, which can be configured with one or moreapplications accessible by a client running on one or more of the clientcomputers 705 and/or other servers 715. Merely by way of example, theserver(s) 715 can be one or more general purpose computers capable ofexecuting programs or scripts in response to the user computers 705and/or other servers 715, including without limitation web applications(which might, in some cases, be configured to perform methods providedby various embodiments). Merely by way of example, a web application canbe implemented as one or more scripts or programs written in anysuitable programming language, such as Java™, C, C#™ or C++, and/or anyscripting language, such as Perl, Python, or TCL, as well ascombinations of any programming and/or scripting languages. Theapplication server(s) can also include database servers, includingwithout limitation those commercially available from Oracle™,Microsoft™, Sybase™, IBM™ and the like, which can process requests fromclients (including, depending on the configuration, dedicated databaseclients, API clients, web browsers, etc.) running on a user computer 705and/or another server 715. In some embodiments, an application servercan create web pages dynamically for displaying the information inaccordance with various embodiments, such as displaying a corporatedashboard environment and/or displaying status updates. Data provided byan application server may be formatted as one or more web pages(comprising HTML, JavaScript, etc., for example) and/or may be forwardedto a user computer 705 via a web server (as described above, forexample). Similarly, a web server might receive web page requests and/orinput data from a user computer 705 and/or forward the web page requestsand/or input data to an application server. In some cases a web servermay be integrated with an application server.

In accordance with further embodiments, one or more servers 715 canfunction as a file server and/or can include one or more of the files(e.g., application code, data files, etc.) necessary to implementvarious disclosed methods, incorporated by an application running on auser computer 705 and/or another server 715. Alternatively, as thoseskilled in the art will appreciate, a file server can include allnecessary files, allowing such an application to be invoked remotely bya user computer 705 and/or server 715.

It should be noted that the functions described with respect to variousservers herein (e.g., application server, database server, web server,file server, etc.) can be performed by a single server and/or aplurality of specialized servers, depending on implementation-specificneeds and parameters.

In certain embodiments, the system can include one or more databases720. The location of the database(s) 720 is discretionary: merely by wayof example, a database 720 a might reside on a storage medium local to(and/or resident in) a server 715 a (and/or a user computer 705).Alternatively, a database 720 b can be remote from any or all of thecomputers 705, 715, so long as it can be in communication (e.g., via thenetwork 710) with one or more of these. In a particular set ofembodiments, a database 720 can reside in a storage-area network (“SAN”)familiar to those skilled in the art. (Likewise, any necessary files forperforming the functions attributed to the computers 705, 715 can bestored locally on the respective computer and/or remotely, asappropriate.) In one set of embodiments, the database 735 can be arelational database, such as an Oracle database, that is adapted tostore, update, and retrieve data in response to SQL-formatted commands.The database might be controlled and/or maintained by a database server,as described above, for example.

While certain features and aspects have been described with respect toexemplary embodiments, one skilled in the art will recognize thatnumerous modifications are possible. For example, the methods andprocesses described herein may be implemented using hardware components,software components, and/or any combination thereof. Further, whilevarious methods and processes described herein may be described withrespect to particular structural and/or functional components for easeof description, methods provided by various embodiments are not limitedto any particular structural and/or functional architecture but insteadcan be implemented on any suitable hardware, firmware and/or softwareconfiguration. Similarly, while certain functionality is ascribed tocertain system components, unless the context dictates otherwise, thisfunctionality can be distributed among various other system componentsin accordance with the several embodiments.

Moreover, while the procedures of the methods and processes describedherein are described in a particular order for ease of description,unless the context dictates otherwise, various procedures may bereordered, added, and/or omitted in accordance with various embodiments.Moreover, the procedures described with respect to one method or processmay be incorporated within other described methods or processes;likewise, system components described according to a particularstructural architecture and/or with respect to one system may beorganized in alternative structural architectures and/or incorporatedwithin other described systems. Hence, while various embodiments aredescribed with—or without—certain features for ease of description andto illustrate exemplary aspects of those embodiments, the variouscomponents and/or features described herein with respect to a particularembodiment can be substituted, added and/or subtracted from among otherdescribed embodiments, unless the context dictates otherwise.Consequently, although several exemplary embodiments are describedabove, it will be appreciated that the invention is intended to coverall modifications and equivalents within the scope of the followingclaims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system, comprising: a sensor system thatdetects a status of a piece of commercial equipment, the piece ofcommercial equipment comprising a surveying instrument; a first computersystem, the first computer system comprising a first processor and afirst computer readable storage medium having encoded thereon a statusmonitoring component to program the first computer system to perform oneor more operations, the status monitoring program including a first setof instructions executable by the first processor, the first set ofinstructions comprising: instructions for receiving status informationfrom the sensor system; instructions for determining the status of thepiece of commercial equipment based at least in part on the statusinformation; and instructions for encoding and publishing a statusupdate, using a social networking infrastructure, the status updateindicating the status of the piece of commercial equipment; and a secondcomputer system comprising a second processor and a second computerreadable storage medium, the second computer readable storage mediumhaving encoded thereon a status update component to program the secondcomputer system to perform one or more operations, the status updateprogram including a second set instructions executable by the secondprocessor, the second set of instructions comprising: instructions forreceiving user input identifying the piece of commercial equipment;instructions for subscribing to updates from the piece of commercialequipment; instructions for receiving the published status update viathe social networking infrastructure, based on a subscription to thepiece of commercial equipment; instructions for decoding the publishedstatus update; instructions to identify, from the status update, anyindicators of an operational problem with the monitored equipment;instructions for taking an action in response to receiving the publishedstatus update by displaying the status update for the user on a displayscreen equipped with a plurality of customizable information panels,wherein at least one of the plurality of information panels displays acalendar of the user; wherein the second set of instructions furthercomprises: instructions for receiving a plurality of published statusupdates via the social networking infrastructure; and instructions fordisplaying each one of the plurality of status updates in the firstinformation panel, as that one of the plurality of status updates isreceived, without any interaction from the user; wherein encoding thestatus update comprises encrypting the status update, to prevent publicaccess to information about the status of the piece of commercialequipment, and wherein decoding the published status update comprisesdecrypting the published status update.
 2. The system of claim 1,wherein the social networking infrastructure is a blog or microblog, andwherein publishing the status update comprises: posting an entry on theblog or microblog.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein the socialnetworking infrastructure is a public social network infrastructure. 4.The system of claim 1, wherein the social networking infrastructure is aprivate social network infrastructure that is not accessible to thepublic.
 5. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions for taking anaction in response to receiving the status update comprise: instructionsfor updating a back office application with the status update.
 6. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the sensor system comprises a locationsensor.
 7. The system of claim 1, wherein the sensor system and thefirst computer system are incorporated within the first piece ofcommercial equipment.
 8. The system of claim 1, wherein the statusupdate comprises information about a duration of operation of the pieceof commercial equipment.
 9. The system of claim 1, wherein the statusupdate comprises information about an operational status of the piece ofcommercial equipment and the operational status is indicated as normal,abnormal or critical.
 10. The system of claim 1, wherein the secondcomputer system is a mobile communication device.
 11. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the instructions for publishing the status updatecomprise instructions for accessing the social networking infrastructureusing Internet protocol communication via a public network.
 12. Thesystem of claim 11, wherein the public network comprises a wirelessnetwork.
 13. The system of claim 1, wherein the status update compriseslocation information about a current location of the piece of commercialequipment.
 14. The system of claim 13, wherein the second set ofinstructions further comprise instructions for displaying, for a user,the current location of the piece of commercial equipment.
 15. Thesystem of claim 14, wherein the instructions for displaying the currentlocation of the piece of commercial equipment comprise instructions fordisplaying a map illustrating the current location of the piece ofcommercial equipment.
 16. The system of claim 15, wherein the mapfurther displays a plurality of historical locations of the piece ofcommercial equipment.
 17. The system of claim 1, wherein theinstructions for taking an action in response to receiving the statusupdate comprise: instructions for determining the operational problemwith the piece of commercial equipment when the status update indicatesthat the equipment is not fully operational or is not in use whenexpected to be in use, and/or when the status update includes amaintenance request, error code, or other indication of an errorcondition.
 18. The system of claim 17, wherein the instructions fortaking an action in response to receiving the status update furthercomprise: instructions for alerting the user to the operational problemwith the piece of commercial equipment.
 19. The system of claim 1,wherein the instructions for displaying the status update comprise:instructions for displaying a corporate dashboard environment comprisinga plurality of information panels; and instructions for displaying thestatus update within a first information panel.
 20. The system of claim19, wherein the plurality of information panels comprises a secondinformation panel for displaying an electronic mail inbox of the user.21. The system of claim 19, wherein the plurality of information panelscomprises a second information panel for displaying a chat application.22. The system of claim 19, wherein one or more of the plurality ofinformation panels are dashboard widgets that are customizable by theuser.
 23. The system of claim 19, wherein the instructions fordisplaying the corporate dashboard environment comprise instructions fordisplaying the corporate dashboard environment in a web browser.
 24. Thesystem of claim 19, wherein the instructions for displaying thecorporate dashboard environment comprise instructions for displaying thecorporate dashboard environment in a dedicated dashboard application.25. The system of claim 19, wherein the plurality of information panelsfurther comprises a second information panel for displaying securecorporate information; and a third information panel for displayingpublic information.
 26. The system of claim 25, wherein at least aportion of the public information is received from a public socialnetwork.
 27. A method, comprising: detecting, with a sensor system, astatus of a piece of commercial equipment, the piece of commercialequipment comprising a surveying instrument; receiving, with a firstcomputer system comprising a first processor, status information fromthe sensor system; determining, with the first computer system, thestatus of the piece of commercial equipment based at least in part onthe status information; encoding and publishing, with the first computersystem, a status update, using a social networking infrastructure, thestatus update indicating the status of the piece of commercialequipment; receiving, with a second computer system, user inputidentifying the piece of commercial equipment; subscribing, with thesecond computer system, to updates from the piece of commercialequipment; receiving, with the second computer system, the publishedstatus update via the social networking infrastructure, based on asubscription to the piece of commercial equipment; decoding, with thesecond computer, the published status update; identifying, with thesecond computer, any indicators of an operational problem with themonitored piece of commercial equipment; taking an action in response toreceiving the published status update by displaying the status updatefor the user on a display screen equipped with a plurality ofcustomizable information panels, wherein at least one of the pluralityof information panels displays a calendar of the user; receiving aplurality of published status updates via the social networkinginfrastructure; and displaying each one of the plurality of statusupdates in the first information panel, as that one of the plurality ofstatus updates is received, without any interaction from the user;wherein encoding the status update comprises encrypting the statusupdate, to prevent public access to information about the status of thepiece of commercial equipment, and wherein decoding the published statusupdate comprises decrypting the published status update.
 28. Anon-transitory computer program product, comprising: a firstnon-transitory computer readable medium having encoded thereon a firstset of instructions executable by a first processor, the first set ofinstructions comprising instructions for: receiving status informationfrom a sensor system that detects a status of a piece of commercialequipment, the piece of commercial equipment comprising a surveyinginstrument; determining the status of the piece of commercial equipmentbased at least in part on the status information; encoding andpublishing a status update, using a social networking infrastructure,the status update indicating the status of the piece of commercialequipment; a second non-transitory computer readable medium havingencoded thereon a second set of instructions executable by a secondprocessor, the second set of instructions comprising instructions for:receiving user input identifying the piece of commercial equipment;subscribing to updates from the piece of commercial equipment; receivingthe published status update via the social networking infrastructure,based on a subscription to the piece of commercial equipment; decodingthe published status update; identifying any indicators of anoperational problem with the monitored equipment; taking an action inresponse to receiving the published status update by displaying thestatus update for the user on a display screen equipped with a pluralityof customizable information panels, wherein at least one of theplurality of information panels displays a calendar of the user;receiving a plurality of published status updates via the socialnetworking infrastructure; and displaying each one of the plurality ofstatus updates in the first information panel, as that one of theplurality of status updates is received, without any interaction fromthe user; wherein encoding the status update comprises encrypting thestatus update, to prevent public access to information about the statusof the piece of commercial equipment, and wherein decoding the publishedstatus update comprises decrypting the published status update.